Space Between Lines
by Terapsina
Summary: So she read and reread his message until the paper became worn and ink paled. And every time she did she noticed something else. One-shot. Elejah


Disclaimer: I don't own Elijah, or Elena or the Vampire Diaries. If I did there would be hope for this beautiful couple.

_O0o0O _Space Between Lines_ O0o0O_

_Elena,_

_Today I did things I abhor to protect the one thing I value most, my family. If anyone can understand it, it's you. Your compassion is a gift, Elena. Carry it with you, as I will carry my regret._

_Always and forever,_  
><em>Elijah<em>

_*oOo*  
><em>

She missed him. It's something that took her by surprise, but once the thought entered her life it wouldn't ever quite leave.

When she first read his goodbye letter it brought comfort, but she didn't understand yet all the layered meanings hidden within his words. Once she woke up though and was introduced to the sunny day in a world where Bonnie couldn't bring herself to face her, where the Salvatore brothers took the coward's way by avoiding her and where Klaus was still very much a threat - thereby making Jeremy's return impossible, - she noticed the ache inspired by his absence.

So she read and reread his message until the paper became worn and ink paled. And every time she did she noticed something else.

_*oOo*_

_Your compassion is a gift, Elena._

_*oOo*  
><em>

He admired her ability to forgive. But he didn't ask for it or expect it, didn't want to use it to his advantage. He didn't plan to corner her at every opportunity trying to suck all her compassion for himself, selfishly thinking that it was his right to gain from it but sneering when that same quality was turned towards someone he thought undeserving.

It both hurt and freed her. This clarity brought a new light to more than her picture of him.

She didn't want to lose the humanity she possessed. And however much Damon and Stefan repeated they didn't want to change her they still so very obviously wanted to turn her into something they hated being themselves.

She was no longer certain if that was love.

Why was it that Elijah's neat script made it so clear when her own mind shied away from these thoughts?

_*oOo*_

_Today I did things I abhor to protect the one thing I value most, my family._

_*oOo*  
><em>

He was sorry for what he had done. Despite her lie, despite the fact that she signed his death warrant he still found his proceeding actions despicable.

He got what he wanted. His family was alive, his plan worked and yet he felt regret.

And somehow that changed a lot. If he hadn't left her this envelope she might never have thought of him as moral again, but he was. Elijah was an honorable man, he had just forgotten the path such a person would take.

And so he left to find the right road again.

For some reason she wished he didn't have to leave to do it. Every time she saw him there was this safety that enveloped her, this courage that grew in her heart and the wisdom to use it. With him gone she felt adrift in this sea of the blackest of depths again.

She missed the easy connection they shared. It was uncanny how effortlessly she could read his intentions and how seamlessly he saw through her walls.

_*oOo*_

_If anyone can understand it, it's you._

_*oOo*  
><em>

He saw her. Not her Petrova face, but her.

She never worried that he looked at her and fought to banish the ghosts of Katherine or even Tatia. She didn't look at him and worry he might suddenly say the wrong name even if he was the man that once did so.

It was frightening how much trust she still placed in him and how such a small part of it had anything to do with her physical safety.

He could see how important family was to her, could understand that her friends were as much a part of her as those few left who were related to her by blood. He appreciated it.

If she ever wrote a romance novel she knew it wouldn't center on a pointless triangle that was all about attraction and ripped the protagonist's heart apart. It would be about a soul deep connection between people who understood one another better than they sometimes understood themselves. And even as she fought this truth it never left.

She wished he hadn't either.

_*oOo*_

_Carry it with you, as I will carry my regret._

_*oOo*  
><em>

He didn't want her to lose herself and he didn't want her to forget him. It might not be what he wished to tell her, but she could see the accidentally spilled meaning so very clearly it almost hurt. Her eyes certainly stung from keeping the tears at bay.

He would keep thinking about her. Wherever he was right now, she was on his mind and his actions still haunted his dreams.

It was like a promise never revealed, but out there nevertheless.

She meant something to him, something he chose to keep secret and buried. She couldn't be certain what, but whatever the feeling it was powerful. She hoped time wouldn't wane it.

Where love from the brothers so many thought she would choose from was stifling the unnamed bond between herself and Elijah was still feeding her strength, even across distance through words written on a simple piece of paper she could feel him. Fragile but so certain was this paper thin line connecting them.

_*oOo*_

_Always and forever._

_*oOo*  
><em>

Those words followed her dreams, they stood on the edge of her conscience every day.

He couldn't have known that she would recognize them, couldn't have known that because she did she would read more in them than he might have intended for her. But if he wrote them then he meant them and that was something she couldn't throw aside.

She had heard those words from his sister. They meant staying together for eternity.

And he made the promise of his family to her now. She meant as much to him as them. He loved her and he was certain he always would.

It meant he would return. Sooner or later she'd see him again, and after reading his letter so many times she had come to the conclusion that she was looking forward to the moment when he did.

A letter could mean more than just the words written in black and white, if you knew the person whose hand wrote them the spaces between lines could tell you more than the message itself.

Sometimes Elena knew Elijah better than she knew herself.


End file.
